How are natural selection and artificial selection similar?

• A. Both are driven by random mutations that always increase an organism’s fitness in its environment.
• B. Both occur only when humans intentionally choose which individuals will reproduce.
• C. Both always produce perfectly adapted organisms and eliminate all genetic variation from populations.
• D. Both result in changes in allele frequencies over generations because individuals with certain heritable traits leave more offspring.

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand the concept of natural selection: it is a process where individuals with traits better suited to their environment tend to survive and reproduce more, leading to changes in allele frequencies over generations.
2. Understand the concept of artificial selection: it is a process where humans intentionally select individuals with desired traits to reproduce, also causing changes in allele frequencies over generations.
3. Identify the commonality: both natural and artificial selection involve differential reproductive success based on heritable traits, which leads to changes in the genetic makeup of populations over time.
4. Recognize that both processes depend on heritable variation and differential reproduction, but natural selection is driven by environmental pressures while artificial selection is driven by human choice.
5. Conclude that the similarity lies in the mechanism of changing allele frequencies through differential reproduction of individuals with certain heritable traits, regardless of whether the selection is natural or artificial.